“Plans for ‘Kurdish Empire’ Advance”

This article was originally published by Niqash. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

In an interview with NIQASH, the representative of the Syrian Kurdish party running Kurdish parts of Syria talks about their contingency plan, for after the revolution.

Talk to any Syrian Kurd and he or she will tell you that ever since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, the Kurdish have been managing their own affairs in areas of Syria where mostly Kurdish live, and they are doing it very well indeed, thank you very much. And it is true that, unlike many other parts of Syria, many of the Kurdish-dominated areas have not faced as much violence or unrest.

For this, many Syrian Kurdish you talk to will also thank the Democratic Union Party or PYD, and its armed wing. In the same breath though, you may find that they also criticise the PYD for trying to impose its doctrine on every part of life in the areas of Syria its running.

“We’re not perfect,” admits Jafar Akash Hannah, the PYD’s representative in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. “We make mistakes and we learn from them. The PYD only wants to stabilize the Kurdish areas, saving them from destruction and any kind of civil war between themselves and the Arabs, or themselves and other Kurds.”

Over the pas few month the parts of Syria run by the PYD were basically seen to be abandoned by the Syrian military and left in Kurdish hands. And the PYD, with its combination of political, administrative and military wings, has been overseeing and managing these areas in north and north eastern Syria, providing social services and defence.